


Kemi, September 20th, 2006

by ChristianHowe



Series: Revontulet [20]
Category: Sonata Arctica
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-07 18:30:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14676897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChristianHowe/pseuds/ChristianHowe
Summary: Pirre and Jani's ex-girlfriend talk.





	Kemi, September 20th, 2006

**Author's Note:**

> Author's note: The band members I write about are not related to the real ones.
> 
> Disclaimer: Not mine and, thank g*d, not true.
> 
> Thank you, Helena Snow-Renn for beta and so much more! ♥

"He's impossible." Jenny inhales deeply as she shakes her head. It's cold outside on the balcony, but Jenny has decided that kicking Jani out isn't the only thing that's going to change in her life. And on the off chance that he gets his shit together, a smoke-free environment at least inside their flat could help him with his nicotine addiction. Just like Jenny hopes it will help with hers, but she's confident: although she's only imposed the rule the night before, she's already thinking twice every time she wants a cigarette and has to put her coat on for that. Soon it'll be a hat and mittens in addition to the coat, and that should really do the trick.

Pirre nods. Smoking isn't allowed in her house and she's noticed for years that Tommi and Marko smoke considerably less in winter. When she'd called Jenny the day before and asked if they could talk, the other woman had been busy, but she'd been happy to meet with Pirre the next morning. Jani is at her home, babysitting Ella, but in truth it's probably the other way round: As long as he's supposed to watch over the little girl, Pirre can be sure he'll stay out of trouble.

She and Jani hadn't spoken last night after he went to sleep off his pill- and alcohol-induced fatigue. She'd cancelled her shopping plans for the day, not daring to leave him alone after his attempt at overdosing on sedatives. Staying at home, she'd looked in on Jani now and then while clearing out the cupboards and checking that they were prepared for the cold season.

Jenny stubs out her cigarette butt and Pirre follows her to the kitchen where coffee is waiting for them. Maybe she wouldn't call Jenny her best friend, their lives are too different, but they're allies in their 'project', taking care of Jani: Like Pirre, Jenny had found him in trouble on a cold winter night, looked after him, and eventually she'd fallen love with him. Ironically, it had been the one night in her life that Pirre had put someone else first when he'd called her for help – although she'd only found out about that call later, but even had she received it on time, for once she couldn't have been there for him: it was the night she'd given birth to Ella.

Pirre had been happy for Jani when he returned Jenny's feelings for him and the two of them had become a couple. Jenny was intelligent, funny, and sensible enough to provide him with some stability. For the past two-and-a-half years Jani had, regardless of the trouble that found him on the road, had a safe home. That period has now come to an end.

"He's been a mess for almost a year now," Jenny begins as she spoons sugar into her coffee, then stirs vigorously. "I needn't tell you about the drinking and how things go out of hand on tour."

Pirre nods again. As a good friend of Jani's, Tommi hasn't told her much, but from the little he and Marko _have_ told her after Toni had announced that Jani was fired, in addition to the stories she's read on the forum, she knows it was bad.

"Then there's this whole mess about his military service. He missed his hearing, got arrested, fined, had his passport confiscated. You'd think he'd take care of that, but no. Official letters, mail from his lawyer, everything ends up in the rubbish bin unopened. If Tommi and Toni hadn't intervened, he'd probably have spent his birthday in jail."

Again, Pirre nods. Tommi and Toni had more or less forced a very reluctant Jani to accompany them to the police station, where he'd got permission to finish the album they were working on before taking care of his conscription.

"As it is, he relaxed a little after that," Jenny continues. "Then J-P called – Alanen – and asked if Jani could fill in for him with Altaria for a few shows. He was sick and they needed someone who could get their set down within two days' notice, so Jani was the obvious choice."

When Jani left Altaria in '05, J-P Alanen had joined the band as his successor. The reason why Jani had to quit was that his main focus was Sonata Arctica. As a founding member, he hadn't been happy to leave Altaria, but he didn't have enough time for both bands. That J-P called Jani when he needed a temporary replacement made sense.

"They agreed that he'd play three shows with them. Unfortunately, they were in the south, Savonlinna, Lahti, and Kitee, beginning on Thursday. I'd have loved to go to all of them, but you know, work. So I could only make it to Kitee on Saturday. I decided to go by car although it's a seven-hour drive, but it actually suited Jani better, too, as the band would have returned to Pietarsaari, so he'd be home a lot quicker riding with me." Jenny takes a sip of her coffee.

"I'd booked a hotel room for us and was looking forward to this little holiday. Especially as Jani was really happy and looking forward to being with Altaria again. He said it would be great to play music without having to put up with all the bullshit that Sonata is nowadays." She grimaces. "Only, with Jani being Jani, I shouldn't have expected it to go as planned."

Jenny drinks more coffee. "So, I arrived in Kitee in the early evening. I called Jani, got voicemail, so I went to the hotel to check in. He texted me a few minutes later to let me know that he was still busy with soundcheck. That was fine with me, I was tired after the long drive, so I decided to take a nap. The show was announced for eleven, so nothing much would happen before midnight anyway."

Pirre nods: concerts in Finland are usually scheduled later than in most other countries, and they rarely begin on time.

"Jani called me at around ten but he was so drunk that I could barely make out what he said." Jenny's and Pirre's eyes meet. "Pre-gig jitters. Some things never change. I told him I'd meet him after the show, got ready and walked over to Karhu, the venue. The show was great although he was obviously hammered, but you know him. Even when he's so trashed that he can barely walk anymore, playing guitar has never been a problem."

Pirre joins Jenny's sigh: At some point she'd given up hope that if Jani lost his ability to play when he was in his cups, it could motivate him to drink less. It hasn't happened. If anything, the fact that he can play in whatever state he's in appears to have encouraged him to never even attempt to moderate his drinking.

"Anyway, I thought I'd give him some time to shower and all that before picking him up. Only, by the time I repaired to the backstage area, he and most of the band had left already. He didn't answer his phone, which, as you can imagine, I didn't find very amusing, but while I was still wondering if I should leave a message or just wait and see if he'd call me, Taage came out." Jenny hesitates.

"It isn't official, but Jani hinted that they're looking for a new singer. Taage hadn't left with the others but he knew where they'd gone and was nice enough to offer to take me there. And that's when things really started to go downhill..." Jenny interrupts herself. "I think I want another smoke. That okay with you?"

They put their coats and shoes on again and step onto the balcony where Jenny lights up before continuing her recount of the night. "So we went to this night club, where Altaria had commandeered a table, beer, and girls. I'm not as naive as to assume the guys are choir boys on tour, but I still hadn't expected this from Jani when he knew I was coming." She pulls hard on her cigarette.

"Now I don't know if he'd forgotten about me or if this was a deliberate attempt to snub me and force me into a fight to end our relationship." Jenny sighs and shakes her head. "He's changed so much over the past year that I really can't tell. Be that as it may, when Taage and I joined them, Jani immediately offered to get me a drink. He was gone for a long time, so I went in search of him. Found him at the bar being fawned over by a bunch of bimbos. Barely legal, tons of make-up, perfect little sluts in their tight jeans and halter tops, just as he likes them."

She looks at Pirre with a guilty expression on her face. "I shouldn't have said that, after all I wear make-up and like tight clothing myself. I'm pissed at the girls where I should be pissed at Jani – okay, I _am_ mad at him. Anyway, he was obviously enjoying their company a lot as he leaned closer and began kissing one of them. Then when the music stopped for a second and he told them that he had enough of an erection for all of them I saw red. Thank goodness Taage stopped me from doing anything stupid." She finishes her cigarette and they return inside.

"So where was I?" Jenny collects her thoughts when they've taken their places at the kitchen table again and she's poured more coffee. "Taage suggested I return to the hotel while he spoke to Jani. That's what I did and I expect he did, too. Only, if I'd expected Jani to call or anything, I was wrong. He didn't. Eventually, I gave up waiting and went to bed, not that I got much sleep. The next morning when he hadn't shown up by hotel checkout time and wasn't answering his phone I had no choice but to leave without him. Some of us have to work on Mondays."

She sounds angry and Pirre can't blame her.

"I didn't hear from him until yesterday when he came home and acted as if nothing had happened. For three days I didn't even know if he was alive and then he comes home, doesn't say a word, checks the fridge and announces he's off to Alko for vodka, did I want anything from there. And that's when I told him it was over." She sighs and stirs her coffee.

"I had three days to think and I didn't like what I came up with. He's been on a continuous downward spiral for months and I've done what I can to help him with it. Only, he won't accept help, and we've come to the point where he's dragging me down with him. Then that night in Kitee happened and ran the cup over."

Jenny doesn't look at Pirre when she continues. "I think that maybe he ignored my presence that night because he'd been with a woman before or after the show. Nothing serious. It wouldn't be the first time. I mean, we've got this unspoken agreement that he doesn't tell me about what's going on sex-wise on tour, but here in Finland that's another story. He's cheated on me before, and this kind of evasive behaviour is exactly what he does when he feels guilty. Only this time... We haven't had sex in months. He wasn't interested. I put it down to stress and, well, depression, but..." She interrupts herself again.

"I bet that's more than you wanted to know. Still, ignoring me for months, then going for a gaggle of groupies while I'm watching... That and his indifference upon coming home was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. So I told him it's over."

Jenny looks at Pirre for confirmation and Pirre nods. They both love Jani but Pirre agrees that with the way he's currently acting, his and Jenny's relationship doesn't stand a chance, especially not if this has been going on for months already. Pirre has known for a while that he's in a tailspin but so far she'd thought at least he and Jenny were doing okay. That's not the case, and his reaction the day before shows that Jani knows it, too.

"You know, when you called yesterday, my first thought was, what has the idiot done now, and I felt annoyed, not worried. And when you told me... After all this I was kind of numb. Glad that you're there for him, but it... _he_ didn't feel like my problem anymore." As if she's read Pirre's thoughts, Jenny turns her attention to yesterday. "I'd have talked to you, told you what was going on, but I was actually on a mission on his behalf. I need him to leave, so I found him a place to live. Temporarily, that is. It's a dump, but he has no money – I've been paying the rent alone for months so he can pay his court fines for drunk driving, conscription, and if there's anything else I don't want to know." She shakes her head.

"About moving out," Jenny continues, "maybe he needs a wake-up call and he'll pull himself together. At least that's what I hope. That when he realises I mean it, he'll try and change. Part of me is afraid that he won't but I can't do this any longer." She looks up at Pirre. "I'm packing up his stuff and a friend is helping me move it later today. Actually, can I ask you a favour?"

"Sure.

"I don't want to see him." Jenny cringes. "I love the guy but I need to keep my distance to protect myself. So if I could give you the keys to that place later and you could get him there and explain, that'd be a tremendous help."

"Of course," Pirre immediately agrees. "I can do that. I'm happy to help, both of you. I will, however, encourage him to stay with me for a few days or have him join the band retreat. I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable if he were alone in his current state."

"Believe me," Jenny says darkly, "I don't want to see him alone, stuck with thoughts I'm sure aren't good ones, but I can't be the one to look after him."

"No, no, I fully understand," Pirre hurries to reassure her. She sighs.

"Well," Jenny resumes, "I guess I'd better go back to packing. Teemu will be here at four, I need to be done by then so we can move his stuff. It isn't much, most of the furniture here is mine and his gear is with Lapponia Safaris."

Sonata Arctica have rented huts at an outdoor activity village for their rehearsal retreat. It's where the band, except Jani of course, are right now. They've taken his equipment there, too, and Pirre hasn't given up hope yet that he'll join them.

"I'll leave you to it, then," Pirre gets up from her chair. "Call me when you want me to come out so you can hand over the keys without running into him."

Jenny takes her to the door and waits in silence as Pirre puts on her shoes and coat. The women hug awkwardly – they've never done it before but it feels right to do it now – and then Pirre walks to her car, contemplating how it's possible that Jani has once again succeeded in turning his life into such a mess.


End file.
